Illustrative embodiments pertain to the art of turbomachinery, and specifically to turbine rotor components.
Gas turbine engines are rotary-type combustion turbine engines built around a power core made up of a compressor, combustor and turbine, arranged in flow series with an upstream inlet and downstream exhaust. The compressor compresses air from the inlet, which is mixed with fuel in the combustor and ignited to generate hot combustion gas. The turbine extracts energy from the expanding combustion gas, and drives the compressor via a common shaft. Energy is delivered in the form of rotational energy in the shaft, reactive thrust from the exhaust, or both.
The individual compressor and turbine sections in each spool are subdivided into a number of stages, which are formed of alternating rows of rotor blade and stator vane airfoils. The airfoils are shaped to turn, accelerate and compress the working fluid flow, or to generate lift for conversion to rotational energy in the turbine.
Airfoils may incorporate trailing edge core geometries that include and/or require a resupply feed to provide additional cooling air to the trailing edge region. This is done by thickening a rib forward of a connection between a serpentine passage and a resupply source in order to angle the resupply air away from the exit of the serpentine. Such ribs can increase part weight and may create additional challenges associated with manufacturing producibility. Accordingly, improved means for providing cooling at a trailing edge region of an airfoil may be desirable.